Promoted jointly by about 15 technocrats and software professionals and a leading stock broking firm, moneyetcetera.com plans to focus on it's B2B segment first and then establish a strong presence in the B2C area.

The portal offers information on about 5,000 companies in an interactive format where user-specific queries are processed and addressed by the site. Additionally, the site offers live quotes from the BSE and NSE and plans to have its arbitrage section up in a week. Updates on bullion, forex, daily financial roundups and corporate news are all part of the portal. "At the moment we are more of an information-based B2B site but we will soon look at the end consumer as well," says Desai.

The company's B2C plans involve creating an infrastructure which allows the consumer to shop for financial products online. So whether it is credit cards, fixed deposits, mutual fund units, car or housing finance, insurance or even an IPO, the consumer can buy it off the site. The customer will be able to download the relevant forms, fill them up and upload again and even make the relevant payments on line eventually. To facilitate this process, the company is in discussion with a leading private bank which is in the process of putting up payment gateways. The site will also offer portfolio management services through its tie ups with about 15 brokers.

The company's revenues are expected to come in from banner advertisements on the site and eventually from commissions from the transactions that are routed through them. However, it could be a good one year before payment mechanisms to facilitate moneyetcetera.com's B2C plans are put into place, be they payment gateways or the mechanism to make online payments.